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Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1866 > March > Mental Mediumship
Mental Mediumship
“… Regarding the detachment of the Spirit, that takes place during the sleep to all of us, my spiritual guide exercises me in the vigil state. While the body is dormant, the Spirit travels far away, visits the persons and places that are of their like, returning effortlessly afterwards. The most remarkable thing to me is the fact that while in a cataleptic like state, I am aware of that detachment. I also exercise the reverence that allows me to be pleasantly visited by sympathetic Spirits, incarnate and discarnate. This latter study only takes place at night, around three or four o’clock, and when the resting body awakens. I remain a few moments waiting, like after an evocation. I then feel the presence of the Spirit by a physical impression, and soon an image that allows me to recognize him comes to mind. A mental conversation is established, like in the intuitive communication, and such a kind of conversation has something of nicely intimate. My incarnate brother and sister visit me many times, sometimes followed by my father and mother from the world of the Spirits. A few days ago I received your visit, dear teacher, and given the tenderness of the fluid that penetrated me, I thought it was one of our celestial guardians; just think about my happiness when I recognized your voice in my mind. Lamennais gave us a communication about it and must encourage our efforts. I could not describe to you the joyfulness of this kind of mediumship. If you have some intuitive mediums around you, familiar with the reverence and the mental effort, they can also try. It is evocation, instead of writing, it is talk through which one expresses the ideas, without prolixity. My guide observed, many times, that there was a suffering Spirit, a friend that come to learn or seeking consolations. Yes, Spiritism is a precious benefit: it opens a vast field to charity, and the one that is inspired by good feelings, if not materially, can always help their brother spiritually.”
This mediumship, that we call mental mediumship, is certainly not adequate to convince the skeptical, because it has nothing ostensible, nor it has those effects that reach the senses. It is for the personal satisfaction of those that have it. But it must also be said that it is very much prone to illusion and one must be suspicious of appearances. Regarding the existence of this faculty, we cannot doubt it. We even believe that this must be the most common one, because it is considerable the number of people that, in the vigil state, suffer the influence of the Spirits, and receive the inspiration of a thought that feel not be of their own. The pleasant or unpleasant sensation that one feels in the presence of someone that is met for the first time; the presentiment of proximity of someone; the reading and transmission of thought, are so many other effects due to the same cause and that constitute a kind of mediumship, that must be considered universal, since everybody has it, at least the rudimentary. However, to experience its markedly effects, a special aptitude is necessary, or even better, a degree of sensitivity more or less developed, according to the individuals. From that point of view, as we have said for a long time, we are all mediums, and God has not precluded anybody from the precious advantage of receiving healthy emanations of the spiritual world, that are translated in a thousand and one different ways. But the variety in the human organisms does not allow everyone to receive identical and ostensible effects. After having discussed these issues at the Spiritist Society of Paris, the following instructions were given about it, by multiple Spirits.
I
It is possible to develop the spiritual sense, as we daily see a skill developing through constant work. You know that the communication between the incorporeal world and your senses is constant: it happens every time, every minute, by the law of the spiritual relationships. Dare the incarnates deny here a law of nature itself! You have just heard that the Spirits see and visit one another during the sleep; you have many proofs of that. Why would you like this not to occur in the vigil state? There is no night to the Spirits. No. They are always by your side; the watch you; your loved ones inspire you, excite your thoughts, guide you; they talk to you and exhort you; they protect your works, help to elaborate designs that are half way through, and your still vacillating dreams; they annotate your good resolutions and fight when you fight. These good friends are there, at the end of your incarnations; they play with you in the crib, enlighten you in your studies, and later get involved in all events of your passage here on Earth; they pray when they see you preparing to meet them. No, never deny the daily assistance; never deny your spiritual mediumship, for it is blasphemy against God, and you will be called ungrateful by the Spirits that love you.
H. Dozon, medium Mr. Delanne
II
Yes, this type of spiritual communication is really a mediumship, as you still have, as a matter of fact, others to be attested during your Spiritist studies. It is a kind of cataleptic state, very pleasant to the person that experiments it. It provides all the joys of the spiritual life to the imprisoned soul, that finds an undefined appeal and that would like to feel that all the time. But nonetheless, one must return, and like the prisoner that is allowed to feel the air in an open field, the soul is constrained in the human cell. It is a very pleasant mediumship this one that allows an incarnate Spirit to see the old friends, talk with them, express their earthly impressions, and be able to open the heart in a circle of discrete friends, that do not try to ridicule your confiding, but instead, give you good advices, if useful. Such advices, given in such a way, have more weight to the medium that receives them, because the Spirit that gives them leaves a profound impression in the brain of the receiving medium, and for that reason the medium kept a better memory in her heart of the sincerity and value of those advices. This mediumship does exist in an unconscious state in many people. Know this that near you there is always a sincere friend, always ready to give encouragement to the one whose direction was entrusted to them by the Almighty. No, my friends, you will never lack this kind of support; it is up to you to distinguish the good inspirations from all those that collide in the labyrinth of your consciences. By understanding what comes from your guide, you cannot deviate from the straight path that must be followed by every soul that seeks perfection.
Protector Spirit, medium Mrs. Causse
III
You have already heard that the mediumship would be revealed in different forms. The one called mental by your President is well defined. It is the first degree of the clairvoyant and speaking mediumship. The speaking medium enters into communication with the Spirits, talks with them; the Spirit of the medium sees them, or better saying, foresees them; the medium only transmits what she is told, whereas in the case of the mental medium, if well formed, she can ask questions and receive answers, without the intermediary of the pen or pencil, more easily than the intuitive medium, because here the Spirit of the medium is more detached and a more faithful interpreter. But for that it is necessary a keen desire to be useful, to work towards the good, with a pure feeling, exempt from any thought of self-love and own interest. This is the most subtle and delicate mediumship of all. The tiniest breath of impurity is enough to have it stained. It is only in that condition that the mental medium will obtain proofs of the reality of the communications. You will soon see, appearing around you, oral mediums that will surprise you by their eloquence and logic. Wait, pioneers that are in hurry to see your works prosper; new workers will join your ranks, and this year will see the conclusion of the first great phase of Spiritism, and the beginning of another one, not less important. As for you, dear teacher, God bless your works; may God support you and sustain you in the special favor that you were given, allowing us to guide you and support you in your work, that is also ours.
As the Spiritual President of the Parisian Society, I watch over it, and over every member in particular and pray for the grace and blessings of the Lord to be cast upon all of you.
St. Louis, medium Mrs. Dellane
IV
Certainly, my friends, the mediumship that consists in talking with the Spirits, like with the persons that live the material life, will develop as the detachment of the Spirit takes place more easily, through the habit of revering. The more advanced the incarnate Spirits, the easier those communications will be. As you say, it will not be very important from the point of view of conviction to the skeptical, but it is very soothing to the one that carries it, helping them to dematerialize more and more. Prayer and reverence, this impulse of the soul to her Author, expressing love and recognition, still requesting help, are the two elements of the spiritual life; they cast upon the soul this celestial dew that helps in the development of faculties that are in their latent state.
How unfortunate are those that say the prayer is useless because it does not modify God’s designs! The laws that govern the multiple types of phenomena, no doubt, will not be disturbed by the wishes of one or another, but the only effect of the prayer is to improve the individual, that through this act, elevates the thoughts above material interests, being this the reason why it must not be neglected. Society will finally regenerate by the renovation of the individuals, and God knows that this is needed! You get upset when you think about the vices of the Pagan society, at the time when Jesus Christ brought his humanitarian reformation; but the vices are still present in your time, hidden under more expressive veils of education and politeness.
They no longer have the magnificent temples of the former Greece. But these are in the hearts of people, causing the same devastations among them as those that preceded the Christian era. It is not but with great utility that the Spirits came to remember the teachings given eighteen centuries ago, since you had forgotten them and as such you cannot take advantage of and spread them according to the will of the Divine crucified. You must therefore thank, every one of you that were called to cooperate in the works of the Spirits, and may your selflessness and charity never diminish, because that is how the true Spiritists are known.
Louis of France, medium Mrs. Breul
This mediumship, that we call mental mediumship, is certainly not adequate to convince the skeptical, because it has nothing ostensible, nor it has those effects that reach the senses. It is for the personal satisfaction of those that have it. But it must also be said that it is very much prone to illusion and one must be suspicious of appearances. Regarding the existence of this faculty, we cannot doubt it. We even believe that this must be the most common one, because it is considerable the number of people that, in the vigil state, suffer the influence of the Spirits, and receive the inspiration of a thought that feel not be of their own. The pleasant or unpleasant sensation that one feels in the presence of someone that is met for the first time; the presentiment of proximity of someone; the reading and transmission of thought, are so many other effects due to the same cause and that constitute a kind of mediumship, that must be considered universal, since everybody has it, at least the rudimentary. However, to experience its markedly effects, a special aptitude is necessary, or even better, a degree of sensitivity more or less developed, according to the individuals. From that point of view, as we have said for a long time, we are all mediums, and God has not precluded anybody from the precious advantage of receiving healthy emanations of the spiritual world, that are translated in a thousand and one different ways. But the variety in the human organisms does not allow everyone to receive identical and ostensible effects. After having discussed these issues at the Spiritist Society of Paris, the following instructions were given about it, by multiple Spirits.
I
It is possible to develop the spiritual sense, as we daily see a skill developing through constant work. You know that the communication between the incorporeal world and your senses is constant: it happens every time, every minute, by the law of the spiritual relationships. Dare the incarnates deny here a law of nature itself! You have just heard that the Spirits see and visit one another during the sleep; you have many proofs of that. Why would you like this not to occur in the vigil state? There is no night to the Spirits. No. They are always by your side; the watch you; your loved ones inspire you, excite your thoughts, guide you; they talk to you and exhort you; they protect your works, help to elaborate designs that are half way through, and your still vacillating dreams; they annotate your good resolutions and fight when you fight. These good friends are there, at the end of your incarnations; they play with you in the crib, enlighten you in your studies, and later get involved in all events of your passage here on Earth; they pray when they see you preparing to meet them. No, never deny the daily assistance; never deny your spiritual mediumship, for it is blasphemy against God, and you will be called ungrateful by the Spirits that love you.
H. Dozon, medium Mr. Delanne
II
Yes, this type of spiritual communication is really a mediumship, as you still have, as a matter of fact, others to be attested during your Spiritist studies. It is a kind of cataleptic state, very pleasant to the person that experiments it. It provides all the joys of the spiritual life to the imprisoned soul, that finds an undefined appeal and that would like to feel that all the time. But nonetheless, one must return, and like the prisoner that is allowed to feel the air in an open field, the soul is constrained in the human cell. It is a very pleasant mediumship this one that allows an incarnate Spirit to see the old friends, talk with them, express their earthly impressions, and be able to open the heart in a circle of discrete friends, that do not try to ridicule your confiding, but instead, give you good advices, if useful. Such advices, given in such a way, have more weight to the medium that receives them, because the Spirit that gives them leaves a profound impression in the brain of the receiving medium, and for that reason the medium kept a better memory in her heart of the sincerity and value of those advices. This mediumship does exist in an unconscious state in many people. Know this that near you there is always a sincere friend, always ready to give encouragement to the one whose direction was entrusted to them by the Almighty. No, my friends, you will never lack this kind of support; it is up to you to distinguish the good inspirations from all those that collide in the labyrinth of your consciences. By understanding what comes from your guide, you cannot deviate from the straight path that must be followed by every soul that seeks perfection.
Protector Spirit, medium Mrs. Causse
III
You have already heard that the mediumship would be revealed in different forms. The one called mental by your President is well defined. It is the first degree of the clairvoyant and speaking mediumship. The speaking medium enters into communication with the Spirits, talks with them; the Spirit of the medium sees them, or better saying, foresees them; the medium only transmits what she is told, whereas in the case of the mental medium, if well formed, she can ask questions and receive answers, without the intermediary of the pen or pencil, more easily than the intuitive medium, because here the Spirit of the medium is more detached and a more faithful interpreter. But for that it is necessary a keen desire to be useful, to work towards the good, with a pure feeling, exempt from any thought of self-love and own interest. This is the most subtle and delicate mediumship of all. The tiniest breath of impurity is enough to have it stained. It is only in that condition that the mental medium will obtain proofs of the reality of the communications. You will soon see, appearing around you, oral mediums that will surprise you by their eloquence and logic. Wait, pioneers that are in hurry to see your works prosper; new workers will join your ranks, and this year will see the conclusion of the first great phase of Spiritism, and the beginning of another one, not less important. As for you, dear teacher, God bless your works; may God support you and sustain you in the special favor that you were given, allowing us to guide you and support you in your work, that is also ours.
As the Spiritual President of the Parisian Society, I watch over it, and over every member in particular and pray for the grace and blessings of the Lord to be cast upon all of you.
St. Louis, medium Mrs. Dellane
IV
Certainly, my friends, the mediumship that consists in talking with the Spirits, like with the persons that live the material life, will develop as the detachment of the Spirit takes place more easily, through the habit of revering. The more advanced the incarnate Spirits, the easier those communications will be. As you say, it will not be very important from the point of view of conviction to the skeptical, but it is very soothing to the one that carries it, helping them to dematerialize more and more. Prayer and reverence, this impulse of the soul to her Author, expressing love and recognition, still requesting help, are the two elements of the spiritual life; they cast upon the soul this celestial dew that helps in the development of faculties that are in their latent state.
How unfortunate are those that say the prayer is useless because it does not modify God’s designs! The laws that govern the multiple types of phenomena, no doubt, will not be disturbed by the wishes of one or another, but the only effect of the prayer is to improve the individual, that through this act, elevates the thoughts above material interests, being this the reason why it must not be neglected. Society will finally regenerate by the renovation of the individuals, and God knows that this is needed! You get upset when you think about the vices of the Pagan society, at the time when Jesus Christ brought his humanitarian reformation; but the vices are still present in your time, hidden under more expressive veils of education and politeness.
They no longer have the magnificent temples of the former Greece. But these are in the hearts of people, causing the same devastations among them as those that preceded the Christian era. It is not but with great utility that the Spirits came to remember the teachings given eighteen centuries ago, since you had forgotten them and as such you cannot take advantage of and spread them according to the will of the Divine crucified. You must therefore thank, every one of you that were called to cooperate in the works of the Spirits, and may your selflessness and charity never diminish, because that is how the true Spiritists are known.
Louis of France, medium Mrs. Breul